The present invention relates to the broad field of collapsible shelving, and more particularly to those forms of shelving that are collapsible into a generally planar configuration for packaging and shipping.
It is known in the art of shelving and furniture manufacture how to engage the various part of a shelf or furniture unit to facilitate rapid assembly after purchase when the shelving or furniture has been shipped in a package. In some cases, assembly is carried out by using screws or other fasteners to connect the various components together. In other cases, assembly may be carried out by allowing the components to be folded out on hinges, and to rotate on axes, so that a minimum of screws and other loose fasteners need be used to hold the unit together after being unpacked and assembled.
However, a problem exists in the art, because the hinges that are presently provided in units of this kind tend to suffer from the fact that a person assembling the furniture is unable to control the ease and speed at which the hinges may rotate. When there are multiple hinges that must be rotated to place the unit in a usable condition, it is often difficult for the assembler to simultaneously control all of the hinges, and this has the effect of leaving the assembler struggling to align all the elements of the unit correctly for assembly.
The present invention addresses these and other needs.